It seems AnandTech has got another world's first - this time AMD's Barcelona core was examined. Anand Lal Shimpi reveals all the details you will need regarding the overall chipdesign, it's memory controller, pipeline and the other major and minor of it's features.
Have a good read but don't expect any benchmark figures... ;-)

With all this talk of all this new hardware comming out i'm getting impatient just waiting for it. R600, 45nm intel, new amd core, proper implementation of directx10 along with vista. Its going to be a busy year.

You know what I want, I want free new technology. I mean it's wonderful that we are advancing every single year, but being even a mild PC ethuist is unrealistic. At least for people with little self control. By next year it sounds like everything will be a million times better, and nothing will even be completely utilized for what is here now.

The more and more I read, the more and more I lean toward just make this computer last real long.

Should be good. But I'm happy to play smart and wait for all areas to catch up before splurging on a CPU which cant be utilised properly by software - I'll stick with a CPU that can be fully and effectively utilised thanks.